Biden And Yellen Will Talk Stimulus With Nation’s Leading CEOs

White House

Chief executives from some of the nation’s top companies are heading to Washington, D.C. to talk about the $1.9 trillion stimulus plan with President Joe Biden and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, CNBC reported on Tuesday (Feb. 9).

Chief executives expected to attend the meeting include J.P. Morgan’s Jamie Dimon, Walmart’s Doug McMillon, Gap’s Sonia Syngal and Tom Donohue of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

The White House told CNBC that the meeting will focus on the economic urgency of Biden’s COVID-19 rescue plan. Other possible items that could be up for discussion include vaccines, and the impact of a $15 per hour minimum wage, CNBC reported.

A former Federal Reserve chair, Yellen has hit home the urgency of the economic situation in the country and has said that time is of the essence. The labor market would take much longer to bounce back without the stimulus, she said, per CNBC.

“The president — his first priority is getting relief to the American people,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Monday, per the news outlet. “Again, I don’t think the American people are particularly worried about how the direct relief gets into their hands. If [reconciliation] is the process it moves forward through, which seems likely at this point, the president would certainly support that.”

The White House meeting will give the Biden Administration insight into what the CEOs like and dislike about the rescue plan. It will also give the chief executives an opportunity to offer up their opinions and get an idea of what else is on Biden’s future agenda.

The January ADP report published last week indicated that U.S. businesses added 174,000 jobs rebounding from a 78,000 decline in December and beating economists’ forecasts. The December total of jobs added was revised from a decline of 123,000 to 78,000. 

Yellen said earlier this month that the economy could come back fully by 2022. But that’s only if the planned stimulus package is approved. Without that funding, she said it could take until 2025 for the unemployment rate to decrease to 4 percent again. 

The Senate already approved the stimulus package. The House passed its own budget resolution but is thinking about the Senate’s version. Vice President Kamala Harris cast her first tie-breaking vote.